Pickles

Hicks isn't ready and they want another outfielder. What's the confusion?

This isn't permanent. These are just the first guys being brought up for now. They're going to cycle through these extra two rosters spots.

Ok, by that same token, when others have wanted him in the minors or criticized that isn't an example of "turning on him" either. He's had a solid season for what he is: A 5th outfielder. I suspect he won't occupy that role next year though as one thing that makes a 5th outfielder valuable is options, which he'll be out of.

Did he overplay his hand?

I think it's more of getting a look at Cowser. McKenna is currently more valuable to this team. That's pretty clear now.

Turned on him? LOL. Do you mean to act as if you weren't banging the drum for Cowser for months who would have taken McKenna's roster spot?

Ditto.

There's no real good argument for Kjerstad. Even if you want the "upside" as opposed to the "vet" Cowser would still be your man.

Kjerstad is not coming up. If they were going with a prospect it would be Cowser anyway. But they won't. Hicks will come up and McKenna will remain. Wells will be the addition, and they will find a spot for Means when he's ready.

You really wonder what kind of workload he shouldered in 2020 in the Covid camps. That could certainly factor into their thinking.

I had forgotten what an OB machine Bobby Bo had been.

With looking it up, both were listed at 6'3". Santander listed as 20 lbs heavier, but I think they're being very kind to Bobby Bo in the weight category. His listed weight of 210 is certainly from the man's salad days.

I'm not really factoring in Tony's opinion, but IIRC, he was largely in agreement with the national guys: Cowser was better thought of defensively than when he had been drafted and was now seen as more than a fringe CF, but someone who could be a legit CF, if only early in his career. From the profile he struck me as having defensive tools like Markakis. I expected a young Markakis in the corners, which imo was a very good defensive player. Cowser certainly wan't that. Doesn't mean he won't improve.

I think the scouting consensus was he should be able to hold down CF early in his career at least. That was the consensus last offseason, which had been an upgrade over what it had been coming out of the draft. I think it looks like they got that wrong.

I think in the end he could still end up being solid in a corner, but he was oversold defensively as a prospect, which is ironic because that's what he was really being praised for over the offseason. He's simply not a CF. He lacks the ideal speed for it, but in coordination with his route-taking, he shouldn't be out there. This is not a death sentence. The tools are there to be solid in a corner. But he has work to do. And if Kjerstad is behind him defensively, then they shouldn't both be working on that simultaneously in a major league outfield for a team as good as the Orioles.

Well, yeah, Bonilla was better, largely because of his OBP skills. I fully acknowledged that. They were both switch hitters, had similar levels of power, and similar defensive value.

If Kjerstad is a far inferior OFer to Cowser then I don't think you can play both of them at the same time, regardless of handedness. But when you factor in defense, and handedness, I agree: Hays almost needs to be on next year's roster. Also shows the value of Santander's switch-hitting ability.

If the bolded is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, Hays will be here next year.

That was my first thought as well.

That's a good comp actually. Santander to Bobby Bo. Bonilla was the better player, primarily because of his onbase skills, but they share many similarities.

Roughly something like that.

Looked ok there. LOL. He's going to be on the postseason roster. It's really not worth the discussion. If you feel the need to pick a nit, figure out the bullpen.

The six man rotation is the concession to that. They might skip him once, twice if they can afford it, but that will be it. That should keep him under 160 in the regular season. Then you let him pitch in the postseason as much as he can.

They're not going to be swayed by 30 bad ABs. He's still hitting better than Ortiz. He's guaranteed to be on the postseason roster.

He has a 2.83 ERA since recalled. Interestingly enough, his K:9 is below 8 since the return. Every single other statistic has improved, particularly his HR rate. In roughly the same amount of innings he has improved from 15 hr allowed to 2.